Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Yet another New Bird For Britain!!

Thanks to an identification query by Jon Hudson
and a rapid interception by RBA's Stuart Piner, the birding fraternity was
informed of its first-ever MASKED WAGTAIL last night, a male that had been
present in and around Jon's Pembrokeshire garden since at least Sunday morning
(27th November 2016). This incredible long-distant vagrant from Kazakhstan is
seemingly on winter territory and is showing exceptionally well - favouring the
rooftops and gardens of Croft Villas, in the picturesque, tranquil hamlet of
Camrose, just NW of Haverfordwest (SatNav SA62 6JF). I and around 60 twitchers
made the long journey this morning to SW Wales today and were afforded an
excellent display, with the bird showing virtually non-stop. Jon's neighbour was
particularly hospitable and invited many of us into his garden so that we could
get better and more prolonged studies and were able to sound-record it. Other
neighbours were equally as accommodating, especially a couple making tea &
coffee for visitors, while the Neighbourhood Watch local police girls came over
from Haverfordwest to see what all of the fuss was about!

Masked Wagtail breeds in Central Siberia, from
Kazakhstan to NW Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan to NW China, and winters primarily
in Northern India (Assam in particular). It is a pretty abundant species but has
only reached the Western Palearctic on just 5 previous occasions, with the most
recent photographed in Burgas (Bulgaria) in September 2015 and by the southern
Dead Sea (Israel) on 23rd March 2016 (that country's third occurrence in
fact).

As the UK400 Club/BBA follows the
PSC principles, it recognises '7' of the 11 types of alba
wagtail as morphologically distinct species -:

1) White Wagtail Motacilla alba

2) Pied Wagtail Motacilla yarellii

3) Moroccan Pied Wagtail Motacilla
subpersonata

4) African Pied Wagtail Motacilla
aguimp

5) Masked Wagtail Motacilla
personata

6) Chinese Amur/White-faced Wagtail Motacilla
leucopsis

7) Kamchatka Pied Wagtail Motacilla
lugens

The taxonomical position of other forms such as
Swinhoe's, Hodgson's, Streak-eyed & Indian White remain unclear, vexing and
more clinal in variation, with wader ranges of overlap and
hybridisation

1 comment:

Hi. Jon Hudson from Camrose here!! In case you haven't seen it please read the text of this post from Pembrokeshire Birds Blog.....Can all visiting birders please ONLY PARK IN THE FIELD AT FOLLY CROSS which has kindly been opened by Roger Mathias. It is large, flat & dry (frozen mainly!). It is also a very short, flat, walk from there to the wagtail's favourite haunts (less than 5 minutes). Hopefully the map below makes it easy to find - there are several ways to reach Camrose but we suggest the simplest (& quickest) is to take the signs for Fishguard (A40) as you approach Haverfordwest from the east, avoiding the town, and as you pass Withybush Airport on the A40 towards Fishguard take the first signpost left to Camrose - the map takes you from there. And it goes without saying - respect the privacy of residents, smile and be nice to them, and keep the roads clear (especially if the bird goes back to the Chapel, the lane is narrow there).

About Me

I have been birding since 1969 but became obsessed with 'twitching' in 1974 and haven't looked back since. Have driven over 1.3 million miles in pursuit of rare birds in the UK, where to date I have recorded 588 species in Britain and Ireland. I also have a fascination for the Birds of the Western Palearctic, where I have currently recorded 880 of the 1,064 species ever recorded. I am widely travelled in North America, as well as in Africa and Asia, and have written at least 29 books on my chosen subject, including best-sellers ''Ultimate Site Guide to Scarcer British Birds' and 'Rare Birds in Britain 1800-1990'. Established the UK400 Club in 1981 to cater for the most obsessive of the British birding fraternity and now concentrate on online publishing, via the www.uk400clubonline.co.uk website. Record Birding achievements include recording 386 species in Britain & Ireland in 1996 and 627+ in the Western Palearctic in 2008